Leaking storage tanks have been known for decades in Hanford, and the latest reports show that despite remedial measures soil and groundwater contamination continues unabated. However, government officials said that there was no near-term danger of polluting the Columbia River.
"There is no immediate or near-term health risk associated with these newly discovered leaks, which are more than 5 miles from the Columbia River," Governor Jay Inslee said in a statement released by his office.
The Energy Department said a week ago that declining liquid levels in one tank at Hanford showed it was leaking at a rate of 150 to 300 gallons (568 to 1,136 liters) per year. Later it was confirmed that another large tank was leaking at the same rate. The two big tanks have capacities of about 750,000 gallons and 500,000 gallons, while the four others can hold up to 55,000 gallons, Dahl said.
The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is spread over a 1,518-square-km area. It was established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, the US government program that developed the first atomic bombs. The plutonium bomb that was dropped over Nagasaki is said to have been built at this facility. Production of plutonium materials at the site ended in 1989.
Weapons production at the site resulted in more than 43 million cubic yards of radioactive waste and 130 million cubic yards of contaminated soil and debris, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which says that approximately 475 billion gallons of contaminated water have been discharged into the soil.
As part of the cleanup, as much remaining liquid waste as possible was pumped out of the older single-shell tanks into sturdier double-walled tanks in a process completed in 2005, Dahl said.
The Department of Energy said last week that monitoring wells have identified no significant changes in concentrations of chemicals or radionuclides in the soil.
Under the multibillion-dollar cleanup plan, the waste from the storage tanks will eventually be processed in a special treatment plant that will immobilize the waste in a glass-like material that can be safely disposed of underground in stainless steel canisters.
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